Overview:

Professional Summary:

My clinical activities as a noninvasive cardiologist primarily take place at the Buffalo VA Medical Center (VAMC). My responsibilities include attending on the inpatient cardiology consultation service and interpreting echocardiograms, stress tests and electrocardiograms (EKGs).

My research career initially focused on translational research using porcine models to investigate physiologic and metabolic adaptations that result from acute and chronic myocardial ischemia (chronically stunned and hibernating myocardium). These preclinical investigations have led to clinical research, including the recent completion of an NIH-sponsored clinical trial. This trial, on which I am the co-principal investigator with John M. Canty, Jr., MD, proved that the presence of sympathetically denervated myocardium quantified by positron emission tomography can predict the risk of sudden death in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy. I am in the process of extending these findings to the clinical management of patients with implantable cardiac defibrillators.

My work as a physician-scientist has included serving on numerous research-related oversight committees and as a peer reviewer for multiple national, regional and local committees. I have been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Veterans Affairs and the American Heart Association to conduct a variety of investigator-initiated research projects.

Medical education is a critical component of my professional life. Nearly all of my clinical and research activities are performed in conjunction with the education of fellows in cardiovascular diseases, residents in internal medicine and medical students. I facilitate small group sessions for second-year medical students in Cardiovascular Physiology for which I have earned several commendations for teaching excellence; I am gratified to have participated in the education of hundreds of young physicians. I have also published dozens of abstracts and manuscripts with various levels of trainees, giving them the opportunity to grow as physician-scientists while at the same time advancing medical knowledge.

Education and Training:

MD, University of Washington School of Medicine (1987)

BS, University of Washington (1983)

Employment:

Professor of Medicine, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo (2007-present)

Banas, M.D. Young, H. Fallavollita, J.A. Canty, J.M., Jr.. Persistent reductions in flow and function after revascularization of swine with hibernating myocardium. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2006.

Books and Book Chapters:

Abstracts:

Singh V, Malhotra S, Canty J, Fallavollita JA. The volume of denervated myocardium predicts sudden cardiac death (SCD) and ICD therapies for VF but not ICD therapies for slower ventricular tachyarrhythmia (VT): An analysis of the prediction of arrhythmic events with positron emission tomography (PARE. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2018.